Guide to Reading Letter Transcriptions
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| Textual Feature | Appearance |
|---|---|
| passage deleted with a strikethrough mark | |
| passage deleted by overwritten added letters | |
| passage added above the line | passage with added text above |
| passage added on the line | passage with added text inline |
| passage added in the margin | passage with text added in margin |
| handwritten addition to a typewritten letter | typed passage with added handwritten text |
| missing or unreadable text | missing text noted with "[illegible]" |
| uncertain transcriptions | word[?] |
| notes written by someone other than Willa Cather | Note in another's hand |
| printed letterhead text | printed text |
| text printed on postcards, envelopes, etc. | printed text |
| text of date and place stamps | stamped text |
| passage written by Cather on separate enclosure. | written text |
MEDICAL DIRECTOR
CHARLES W. THOMPSON, M. D.
ASSOCIATE MEDICAL DIRECTOR
J. A. COLLIE, M. D.
RESIDENT PHYSICIAN
ETHEL FANSON, M. D.
PATHOLOGIST LAS ENCINAS
SANITARIUM3
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA2 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
GEORGE DOCK, M. D., PRES.
W. JARVIS BARLOW, M. D.
F. C. E. MATTISON, M. D.
STEPHEN SMITH, M. D.
F. H. MACPHERSON April 7 Dearest Carrie1;
Such a beautiful sheaf of Easter lillies came to mother4 from you and
Irene5! She cried and cried with
pleasure at being remembered by dear friends far away. The flowers are still
beautiful and even the buds are opening. I find mother weaker than a year
ago, but cheerful most of the time and still able to get pleasure out of
things and to understand all news about
STEPHEN SMITH, M. D.
MEDICAL DIRECTOR
CHARLES W. THOMPSON, M. D.
ASSOCIATE MEDICAL DIRECTOR
J.
A. COLLIE, M. D.
RESIDENT PHYSICIAN
ETHEL FANSON, M. D.
PATHOLOGIST
LAS ENCINAS
SANITARIUM
PASADENA,
CALIFORNIA
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
GEORGE DOCK, M.
D., PRES.
W. JARVIS BARLOW, M. D.
F. C. E. MATTISON, M. D.
STEPHEN SMITH, M. D.
F. H. MACPHERSON her friends and
family.
Soon I will send you a handsome new Doctor of Laws hood6 for your collection!
Lovingly WilliePlease forward our thanks to Irene.
Mother had me read over your lovely long letter to her at least a dozen times. She was so annoyed that no one had told her Phil7 had a second daughter8!
Information about this letter:
- Source File:
- cat.let1047.xml
- Letter identifier
- 1047
- Contents
- Document is two leaves, handwritten on recto of each leaf only.
- Person to whom letter was written
- Carrie Miner Sherwood1
- Date letter was written
- April 7 [1931]
- Explanation of conjectured date
-
Cather received her honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of California in Berkeley in March 1931.
- Place letter was written
- Pasadena, California, United States2
- Location of original letter
- WCPM Collection, National Willa Cather Center, Red Cloud, NE
Individual Annotations
Las Encinas Sanitarium (Pasadena, CA): Established in 1904 by Dr. James H. McBride, the Southern California Sanitarium for Nervous Disorders was renamed Las Encinas Hospital for Nervous Disorders in 1917, and finally to Las Encinas Sanitarium in 1928. Willa Cather’s mother, Mary Virginia Boak Cather, spent the last three years of her life here, where Cather visited her in 1929, 1930, and 1931.
Cather received honorary degrees from the University of California and Princeton University in the first half of 1931. She sent the hoods to Carrie Miner Sherwood to store.
Person Annotations
Sherwood, Carrie Belle Miner (1869-1972) Civic leader;
Cather's friend. Born in Waukon, IA, to James L. Miner and Julia
Erickson Miner, Carrie Miner was the eldest of their children. The family
moved to Red Cloud, NE, in 1878, where the Miner Brothers store became the
largest in town. Cather remembered meeting Carrie there. In 1884, Carrie,
her mother, and siblings were confirmed in the Catholic church. In 1888, she
studied music at St. Mary’s Academy at Notre Dame, IN. She married bank
clerk Walter Sherwood in late 1889; they had two sons. The Sherwoods
travelled often in the West, and visited Europe in 1930. They built a new
house at 3rd and Seward streets in Red Cloud in 1908; Cather sometimes sent
materials for Carrie to keep in its spacious attics. Carrie Miner Sherwood
led local Red Cross work during the two World Wars, served on the Red Cloud
school board and park commission, and was active in the League of Women
Voters and in the Ladies Guild of Grace Episcopal Church. Cather
corresponded with Carrie Miner Sherwood throughout her life and dedicated
My Ántonia to Carrie, model for Frances Harling
in the novel, and her sister Irene. Carrie was one of Mildred Bennett’s
chief sources for The World of Willa Cather (1951),
and was instrumental in setting up what is now the Willa Cather Foundation
in Red Cloud.
Cather, Mary Virginia Boak (1850-1931) (“Virginia” or
“Jenny”). Cather’s mother. Born in Virginia to William Lee Boak
and Rachel Seibert Boak, Virginia was educated in Baltimore, MD, and was a
schoolteacher until her marriage to Charles Fectigue Cather in 1872. Her
husband’s family were primarily Union supporters during the Civil War while
her family supported the Confederacy (three brothers served in the
Confederate Army although their mother opposed slavery). After her marriage
she tried to help unite the divided family. Four of her children, Willa,
Roscoe, Charles Douglas, and Jessica Virginia, were born in Virginia, while
three, James Donald, Elsie Margaret, and John Esten, were born in Nebraska
after the family moved there in 1883. Despite occasional differences, Cather
remained in affectionate contact with her mother, who remained in Red Cloud,
NE, where the family settled in 1884. After her husband’s death in 1928
Virginia Cather suffered a stroke while visiting her children and their
families in California. She spent nearly three years in a sanitarium in
Pasadena, CA, unable to speak. Willa Cather visited her there several times
but was unable to travel quickly enough from Grand Manan to Red Cloud for
her funeral and interment after she died in Pasadena in 1931. Virginia
Cather was the prototype for Victoria Templeton in “Old Mrs. Harris” (1932),
which Willa Cather completed shortly before her mother’s death.
Weisz, Irene Miner (1881-1971). Musician; Cather’s lifelong
friend. Born in Red Cloud, NE, the youngest child of James L.
Miner and Julia Erickson Miner, Irene Miner was educated in Red Cloud,
graduating in 1898 and played with the Cather children as part of the play
town of Sandy Point and in amateur theatricals. She studied piano with local
teachers, such as Mrs. P.E.B. Sill, then went to the Chicago College of
Music from 1899 to 1901. She met clerk Charles Weisz, later president of the
A.F. Shaw insurance company, there; they married in late 1915, settling in
Chicago. She visited Red Cloud frequently, but also travelled in the
American West and then to Europe in 1921 and around the world in 1934.
Cather corresponded with Irene Miner Weisz for many years and sometimes
stayed with her in Chicago when travelling to and from the West. My Ántonia is dedicated to Irene, model for Nina
Harling in the novel, and to her sister Carrie Miner Sherwood.
Sherwood, Philip Sheridan (1892-1989) (“Phil”). Red Cloud banker. Born in Red Cloud, NE, younger son of Walter and Carrie Miner Sherwood, Phil graduated from Red Cloud High School and the University of Nebraska. He served with the quartermaster corps in France from 1918 to 1919, and after being mustered out he joined his father’s bank, the People’s Bank of Red Cloud. In June 1921 he married Aimee Arnold of Red Cloud; they had two daughters, Mary and Juliet. Phil became assistant cashier of the merged People’s-Webster County Bank in 1934, and became cashier when his brother became president in 1951. He also practiced law.
Saladen, Juliet Sherwood (1928-2006) (“Julie”). American nurse. Born in Red Cloud, NE, she was the younger daughter of Phil and Aimee Arnold Sherwood. She married Richard Saladen, also of Red Cloud, in 1950, and they had two children. The family moved to Oregon, where she died.
Place Annotations
